What I’m Watching: True Blood

True Blood: Season 2, Episode 6 “Hard-Hearted Hannah” (B+)

What a full episode that really gets the heart pumping. Every character has some sort of dynamic, intense experience, all of which is building towards an interaction of all the characters. Sam falls completely under Daphne’s spell, and it seems that she’s in league with Maryann, who now has Sam in her clutches for whatever purposes she desires. Eggs and Tara have also ended up in the same place, though it’s not clear that Tara recognized Maryann before she was placed under her creep, black-oil-eyes trance. I love storylines like this one with Eggs, where a character is convinced they’ve been somewhere before and can’t remember why, yet still they know where to go and they can tell it’s familiar to them. Maryann’s obviously a bit of a puzzle, and I’m hopeful that the focus on her supernatural abilities will pay off when her character is revealed to be integral to the overarching “True Blood” mythology. Having both Andy Bellefleur and Lafayette return to the regular rotation is fun, in the different incarnations of delusional, persistent cop, and terrified, transformed vampire-servant. Jason continues to grow as a character, and his latest sexual interaction with Sarah probably won’t do well, considering her husband’s latest temper tantrum. I was shocked and somewhat scared to find Sookie and her companion so quickly and easily forced into going down to the basement, though everything became frighteningly clear when Sookie heard Steve’s excitement at bringing the captive vampire up and frying him in the sun. Meanwhile, it looks like Bill’s not going anywhere anytime soon, as his own violent vampire past is revealed in those extraordinarily powerful and dramatic flashbacks to old times.